Top 5 Wednesday: Tropes I Hate

Hello lovelies – it’s Wednesday so that means it’s time for another Top 5 Wednesday!

Top 5 Wednesday’s group, which is a group on Goodreads created by Lainey from the booktube channel, GingerReadsLainey. This is open to any Booktuber or blogger that would like to get involved. Basically, there’s a list of topics every Wednesday and you find five things that fit well for the topic.

I should preface this by saying last month we had a topic about favourite tropes, and the five I chose were said a little tongue in cheek because I’m not a massive fan of clichéd motifs. With that in mind, I’m just going to choose five more tropes I’m not a massive fan of. However, I think it depends on how the author uses these devices because they can be quite useful.

Girls overlooking the bad boys bad behaviour…

When I think about this one, it always makes me shake my head – because, in reality we see it all the time. It can be a realistic device, but I swear this one makes me want to throw my book away. It’s frustrating to watch a girl take so much grief from someone, who we know doesn’t really want to be with them – when there’s usually a nice character that treats them well being overlooked. Usually the character is attracted to a pretty face, or wants to change them. Either way, I always want to shake them and scream “get a grip!”.

Enemies to lovers

Depending on the way the author portrays this trope, I actually don’t mind this one too much. Done badly, however, this one really drives me nuts. Throughout the story the protagonist detests a character, then suddenly they hop into bed with each other. If this plot twist is completely out of the blue and there’s no dimension to the relationship – it screams of poor writing, and almost seems like a last minute thought. Written well, it can be quite an interesting read and a good insight into how people interact with each other. Afterall, we all know that love and hate tread on a fine line, and its indifference that really reflects someones thoughts.

I just want to be beautiful…

Lately, I’ve been very aware of this trope, particularly in YA contemporary fiction. Granted, this is often a reflection of the generation, who are bombarded with images that are edited and forced upon them as the norm. What frustrates me about this trope is that the character often wants to be beautiful so that they can be essentially worshipped by those around them. These characters can come across as whiny, and shallow – which is a shame. What annoys me more is that they are actually beautiful, and they think they’re not because a boy isn’t rushing to be with them. (Again, there’s usually someone who does like them ‘just as they are’ being overlooked.)

Bratty, Awful Character Sees Error Of Their Ways

Another example of a trope that can be done well, but really irks me when it’s not developed enough. Often I read books from the perspective of a bully, or a character that is popular and puts everyone else down (including their family). The characters are insufferable, and you wonder why you care about their story. Until some sort of inciting incident encourages them to change and be remorseful. What bugs me about this one is that if the author leaves the inciting incident too late into the novel before we see some sort of glimmer of hope, by the time we get to the equilibrium – I still don’t care.

Replacement Love Interest

We’ve all read that story when the protagonist doesn’t get the guy/girl they were initially interested in, and instead runs off with the next available person. They almost just rebound emotionally to the next person with a pulse, and focus all of their affection’s on them. This falls under the Instalove catergory too. Still, this one is never written well for me and just bothers me a lot. Especially when we’ve invested a lot in a relationship only to see the character run off with a character that has barely been introduced, let alone developed. This again, always comes across as a last minute decision to give the character a ‘happy ending’.

I hope you enjoyed reading about more tropes that make me roll my eyes at times. Let me know your thoughts on these in the comments, and share with me some of the tropes you hate. Check back next week for another Top 5 Wednesday, and the topic will be: Book Series I Wish Had More Books.